Strangeness and Charm
by naturally morbid
Summary: AU. Ivy dreams of adventure and sees an opportunity land literally in her yard. The last thing Captain James Nicholls remembers is falling from Joey's back after the Germans began firing. He can't begin to explain why he's in the future and still alive. With Ivy as his teacher, James begins to learn about the future and love. Nicholls/OC. Companion/side piece to Worlds Collide.
1. Introduction

**Author's Note: **Companion/Side story to 'Worlds Collide' this time with Captain James Nicholls.

Once again, will be from past to the future piece, just like with 'Worlds Collide.' The connecting factor will be the doctor (George McGregor) from 'Worlds.'

Jamie and James might meet perhaps, later. But for now, their stories will unfold in separate parts of the village and at separate times.

Will also include a bit of time bending/manipulation to keep Nicholls alive – I think I could give Doctor Who a run for his money ;p (joking of course).

Hope no one is OOC. If anything is amiss, please feel free to let me know.

**Complete Summary:**

_All over the village, strange things seem to be happening…_

Eighteen-year-old Ivy Jones knows that the New Year brought strange changes to her village, including that odd man hanging around the Callahan property that has the village talking. She just wishes change included leaving her run-down farm and multiple siblings. Ivy dreams of adventure, particularly in the form of artistic endeavors. She sees an opportunity land (literally) in her abandoned pasture.

_Falling head over heels from one world to another…_

The last thing Captain James Nicholls remembers is falling from Joey's back after the Germans began firing. He can't begin to explain why he's in the future, in the middle of a pasture no less, and still alive. James receives some comfort when Joey appears a short time later, as the future is a completely different place.

_Opposites attract…_

In Ivy, James finds a similar artistic soul as Ivy finds her everyday adventure. James needs a lesson in the finer points of the future and Ivy appoints herself as his professor. Soft-spoken James finds himself falling in love with Ivy's vibrancy, as Ivy finds balance in James' calm nature.

_Change isn't always easy…_

When an opportunity to return to his time arises, James struggles with returning to an uncertain past or staying with a strange but charming future.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters of War Horse. I do own the characters of my creation. No money is made from this. Title belongs to Florence + The Machine.

* * *

Strangeness and Charm

Introduction

**Ivy's Sketchbook Musings – 3 June 2000 (Saturday)**

_I can't believe that I am being forced to watch the 'brood' again. Honestly, my parents had all these children after me. They knew what they were taking on. _

_From the one raggedy tree in on our property, I'm trying to sketch the abandoned pasture next to the house while also watching to be sure that Sophia, and Grace do not manage to murder Oli with a simple game of cops and robbers. _

_It's difficult being child number two in a family of ten. Harper is first (19). I'm second (18). Then the twins, Benjamin and Gavin (who I'm still to this day not sure who is who – 15). Emma (14). Isabella (12). Landon (11). Oliver (6). And yet another set of twins, Sophia and Grace (5) who are easier to distinguish now, because Sophia still has curly hair and Grace cut hers herself the other night (with minor success.) _

_Harper, older than me by one year, should have left for Uni by now, but hasn't. He's courting a girl on a nearby farm and learning the trade from father. Since he is still home, I think that he should have to share in the babysitting duties. I've had them for years now._

_But no. _

_And father will not let me leave for Uni, with all of my mates. _

_Ben and Gav could at least share my duties. Or Emma even. Emma takes right after our mother. Passive to the day she dies. _

_Sometimes I believe that I am adopted. Harper just tells me that the rest of the family lacks ambition and adventure, so I inherited it-stockpiled. _

_It's bloody hot in this tree and my sketchbook is now turning into a journal. I should climb down. _

_The pasture is not going anywhere. It's not the biggest pasture, too full of stones and other problems for father to consider planting with it. _

_We used to have an old pony that tottered around in it, when I was a child. After the pony died, father didn't replace him. I always hope father will change his mind and get a few animals again. Mother asks every year about cows, for milk. _

_Perhaps she can finally persuade him. _

_It might just be my imagination, or perhaps the severity of the heat, but I could have sworn I something shimmering inside the fence, for just a second. _

_Oh dear, Sophia and Grace have Oli by his arms. Best go and rescue the poor thing, as I would hate to have to sketch him dismembered…_

X

**Author's Note: **Don't worry, James will be appearing soon, as in the first actual chapter : )


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay. The first proper chapter. Sorry if anything is amiss. I actually can't remember the year that it is supposed to be when James' is supposed to die (took a guess, but I can correct it if anyone knows - which I would appreciate quite a bit - well actually I would be in your debt pretty much). Thank you so much for the favs/watches.

Otherwise, enjoy and I should have more up soon :)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own. Never will.

* * *

Strangeness and Charm

Chapter One

Ivy Jones climbed down from the tree she had been sitting in, as fast as her fingers would allow her. Poor Oli just seemed to stay in trouble with his sisters. She rushed over to her fighting siblings, prying them apart, having to use her whole body to keep them separated.

"Who started it?" she demanded fiercely.

"Oli did," Grace, the boldest of the pair, snapped as she pointed her finger at her brother. Oli was now sitting in the grass, looking confused. Sophia was nodding her head anxiously. She always went along with Grace's schemes. Ivy thought that it was God's way of making a joke that Grace had the sweetest name and was the meanest child.

"That doesn't mean you can pry his bloody arms from his body!" The twins shared a look and Ivy realized what she had done.

They "oooed" and said they were rushing off to tell mother.

"Fine, as long as it stops you from killing Oli." She watched them go, blond hair blowing in the wind. Their hair would turn color like hers, to a drab brown that matched her father's locks. She used to wish that she had been graced with pretty, copper hair like Mildred Callahan from over the way, when she was a child.

Instead, her hair color now was an artistic mix of plum and blue on the ends, where her best friend Amy had dyed it before leaving for America as part of some program. Ivy's father hated it, but could do little to change her hair now that she was eighteen.

Remembering Oli, Ivy glanced down. He was looking up at her, expectantly.

"Come on Oli," Ivy told him, picking him up off the ground and brushing his clothing off. "Let's go see the damage." He was a bit too big to be carrying, but Ivy didn't care. She merely hoisted him onto her hip and started across the yard.

In the early morning sun, her mother was on the side of the house that overlooked the abandoned pasture, her nimble fingers working to hang the family laundry.

Harper kept promising to buy her a dryer with his leftover crop money, but he never had. Ivy would have bought one, if she made enough at her part-time job in town. She was a clerk for the movie rental store. Just her and Liam, who wished he were her boyfriend instead of just her boss. Liam was a bit older than Ivy, and his idea of romance was watching football matches and drinking.

As much as she hated to say it, if she didn't leave this village soon, he would wear her down.

The twins were already busy telling their mother all about the 'naughty' word Ivy had said in front of them. Ivy's mother gave a long-suffering sigh, familiar with this situation before as she rubbed her forehead.

"Hullo mum," Ivy greeted her, setting Oli down. He ran and clung to her mother's pant leg.

"Ivy, I've told you before. Just because you are eighteen now, does not mean that you may use foul language in front of the little ones." Ivy had heard this speech so much that she could nearly say it with her mother.

"I know," she shrugged. "Of course, I'm sure tiny murderers would overrule my mouth any day."

"Sophia, Grace, I've warned you about playing roughly with Oli. He's…" She glanced down at her son. Oli didn't speak much, though he should have been by now. "My special little angel." Ivy's mother worried that Oli was not quite right, as she had been nearly forty when he had been born. However, she had Grace and Sophia right after that and besides being the devil incarnate, they seemed normal.

Out of all her siblings, Ivy's favorite was Oli. Mostly because he was the least amount of trouble to watch. But there was something genuinely sweet in his smile. In some ways, Oli was more Ivy's child than he was her mother's baby.

"But now that you're here, you'll be finishing the laundry. I've got to run Ben, Gav, Emma, Isabella, and Landon to that thing with the school and Aunt Lettie's." She caught sight of Ivy's scraped up hands, of the graphite from her pencil. "You've been climbing that tree again, have you? Don't get blood on my sheets. I'll be back soon."

Ivy had forgotten today was the day that half of her siblings would be leaving for the summer either for some special credit in Ben and Gav's case, or to spend the summer working with Aunt Lettie in another village, as was the case for Emma, Isabella, and Landon. Ivy had done it when she was about their age, so that Lettie could attempt to school her in manners and proper behavior.

Lettie or Letitia Jennings – now – was considered to be somewhat of a local celeb in her village because of her famous husband. She insisted on teaching the women in this family proper social behavior. Ivy figured it was about wasted on her. It was part of a truce between Aunt Lettie and Ivy's mother, Helen, which had been started before her birth. Ivy was relieved because it meant that more of siblings would be out of her hair for the summer.

"Fine then. Oli and I shall finish the laundry." Ivy pulled an odd face after her mother had bade her goodbye, thankfully taking Sophia and Grace along for the ride into town and beyond. Oli laughed and clapped his hands together.

Ivy gave him the important job of holding the basket – handmade of course- full of clothespins as she hung sheets, shorts, and the rest of the collected laundry on the lines.

"Where's mum gone off to?" Harper asked a while later as he ducked under the billowing sheets. Ivy hoped that he didn't get them dirty.

"You forgot didn't you?" she sighed.

"Forgot what? She forgot about feeding us."

"No. There's things in the pantry. She took the savages with her, don't you remember? For their time away, hopefully in jail, some of them."

"Shame she didn't take you with them. Can't stand you moping about here, whining about Uni and art. 'You all lack culture!' 'You don't understand me!' 'You-" But Ivy cut him off in his terrible impression of her by throwing one of her shoes at his head. It sailed by with inches to spare but at least it shut him up.

"Shut up!" she shouted after him anyway. "I'll make some lunch then." She didn't want her father to join Harper's cause. She pinned the last bit of laundry, then grabbed for Oli's hand. "Come on, let's go feed those tigers." He laughed and skipped along beside her.

She sang him a nonsensical song about items she found outside until they hopped up the steps to the multi-story farmhouse that she knew was older then all of the siblings combined.

It was cold-cut sandwiches with chips for the four of them. Her father did not say much, but that was not unusual. Cecil Jones was a man of few words. They all munched quietly in the shade of the dining room. He told them through the years if the air unit had to be running, then the lights had to be off to save electricity.

Ivy hardly minded. She slept in a room by herself, which meant that she could sleep in whatever she liked – usually with her window open and most of her clothes off.

After lunch, it was time for a few chores about the house. Ivy made Oli sit in one of the wicker chairs on the verandah, with a coloring book and crayons so that she could sweep. She made him sit on the couch the same way so that she could dust too.

Around three, she started the process of peeling cucumbers for chilled soup later. Oli's job this time was to take the scraps and feed them to his free-range chickens. Ivy felt the chickens were too 'free-range' when they hopped up on her windowsill in the mornings and evenings. Oli loved his chickens, however, and no one in the family was allowed to complain.

By the time Ivy had everything peeled, seeded, chopped, and simmering, it was nearly four-thirty. She wondered how long her mother's trip was going to take. She poured the soup into the blender – a wedding gift to her parents just over twenty-years ago, before finally putting the whole concoction into the refrigerator to chill until dinnertime.

"Oli?" she called, realizing she had not seen him since the last time she had sent him with cucumber skins to his chickens. When he didn't appear after a few minutes, Ivy rushed outside. "Oli?" She could hear his chickens clucking on the side of the house and she hoped that Oliver was still pretending to be one of them.

It was something he enjoyed, tucking his arms under and stretching his neck out in a believable impression of one of his hens. "Oli?" The assorted chickens all stared up at Ivy as she rounded the corner of the house, their orange eyes watching her as if she were from Mars. Oliver wasn't with them.

"Oh God!" Ivy began running to where the laundry was, wondering if he were just playing among the sheets. She whipped her way through the laundry, coming out on the other side facing the empty pasture. She hoped he had not gone near the farm equipment. Her dad would kill her, and she would probably blame herself if anything happened to Oli.

She spotted him, standing quietly near the pasture, waving at something. He turned around and gestured to her, with a big grin on his face.

"Oli!" she shouted, running towards him. "You gave me such a fright! What are you…" Her words died in her throat as she saw what Oli had been waving to in the pasture. Or more like, who he had been waving to.

There was a man sitting in the abandoned pasture, looking quite confused, his long legs splayed out in front of him. Ivy supposed that was only natural, as she was quite confused as to how he got there.

She climbed the pasture fence, straddling the rail, to get a better look.

"Hullo?" she called. The man finally turned his head in her direction. Well goodness, he was striking. She wished she had her sketchbook.

"Miss?" he asked, "if may I ask, where am I?"

"My pasture. In England. In a village far removed from normal society." Ivy hopped down from the fence, to approach him. He was not dressed in a modern fashion. Instead, he looked like an extra from one of those war movies Liam was always nattering on about.

She caught a glimpse of bright blue eyes underneath his cap, just before he turned away from her, blush coloring his cheeks.

"Miss, what strange land is this?"

"What do you mean?"

"You are quite exposed." He was studying the pasture grass with great intensity, but she could see that he was trying not to glance back at her.

"What do you mean by that?" Ivy glanced down at her outfit – jean shorts and a loose linen top. Her midriff top was one of the items on the wash line.

"I suppose I might have struck my head in my tumble from my horse." Ivy agreed silently, that perhaps he had struck his head, because there was no horse around her farm.

"What's going on here? Did Liam put you up to this?"

"Miss, I can assure you," his voice grew strained as she came closer to him, "I have no knowledge of a jest or of this 'Liam' you speak of."

"You look like something from a history book about The Great War."

"I can assure you, there is nothing 'great' about the war with the Germans. Miss, I must find my horse and the remains of the cavalry." He finally turned back to look at her. Ivy couldn't explain it, but he seemed sincere.

"What year do you believe it is?" she asked, the smile sliding from her face. What if this man were a psycho?

"Miss, it is 1915 – 16 at the latest. War has a way of sapping time and place from you."

A bead of sweat made its way down Ivy's back. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. It's 2000. The third of June to be-" The gentleman seemed to have fainted. "Oh Hell."

Ivy could see deep crimson spreading slowly across the right shoulder of his neat, military uniform. No wonder he fainted.

"Oli, go fetch father. Now," she commanded her brother on the other side of the fence as Ivy set about unbuttoning the man's coat to look at the damage.

X

Captain James Nicholls could feel Joey's powerful stride beneath him as they charged across the battlefield. Time seemed to have come to a halt when he spotted the German and his large gun.

He knew it would be the end.

James could not spot Jamie or anyone else he recognized.

To do what – exactly? Signal? Give some type of warning that he was done for?

He couldn't be sure if he fell before the machine gun ripped him apart, or if he jumped to avoid it.

It's a strange sensation to suddenly be falling towards the ground, body suspended in mid-air, muscles bracing for impact, only to never make contact.

Instead, James seemed to tumble through the earth, instead of to it, tumbling through darkness, and finally a blinding light.

When he finally sat up, he realized it was late afternoon, and deadly silent.

Upon glancing around, he was relieved to find a field cleared of dead horses and men. However, it was eerie because he had no idea to where everyone could have disappeared.

He was alone, in a pasture, with an old farmhouse in the distance.

In the harsh sunlight that required the use of his hand to shield it from his eyes despite his visor, James spotted a boy at the paddock fence, waving to him. He waved back, more out of habit. The boy was dressed strangely.

James' arm throbbed, but before he could tend to it, he heard a woman's voice. He watched the little boy turn and wave to a young lady running across the field.

She was arresting, her slender legs gripping the fence, as she climbed over to come see him. She was scantily clad as well, her legs bare – save for the half trousers she was wearing, her billowy, off the shoulder blouse and lack of a corset, petticoats, and other undergarments. Her skin was lightly tanned and smooth. And her hair, unrestrained and cascading around her shoulders, brown but touched with exotic colors he had only ever seen in nature or paintings.

She was brash, but not German, as she questioned him. He knew he shouldn't look at her, when she was dressed so improperly, so risqué. James' arm throbbed worse, but this stranger seemed quite mad in addition to being oddly dressed - 2000?

And after that, he recalled no more.

X

**Author's End Note: **Oh goodness, right? Stay tuned for next chapter!


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: : **Thank you so much for all the reviews / favs/ alerts on this story. I really appreciate them!

Sorry, there should be more Nicholls in the next chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own. No money is made from this. Etc. etc.

Strangeness and Charm

Chapter 2

Cecil and Harper Jones were surveying their field of crops when the horse appeared from the edge of the tree line that marked the Jones property from the Smiths.

It was a handsome beast, to be sure, galloping at them with its saddle barely attached at the girth, his reins flying out behind him. The star on his forehead caught the late afternoon light, bouncing from his beautiful bay coat.

"Father! He's headed for that field!"

"Grab him Harper." He charged across the lanes, being sure to avoid the tender plants by jumping over them and running between rows to intercept the frightened horse. His pale brown hair flopped into his eyes as he made to grab the reins and steer the horse away. Harper could hear his father behind him as the two of them tried to pen the horse up.

Harper missed his chance to grab the lines, falling face first into the dirt. His father was more successful, grabbing the horse and turning him back toward the forest. His father jogged along beside the animal, using soothing sounds to calm him.

"Do you think one of the Smiths or that Callahan fell off in the woods?" Harper questioned, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Dunno. We'll get on the horn and make some calls." The horse was much calmer now, Harper noted, as his father led the animal back towards the house.

As they neared the building, Oliver was running for them, as fast as his little legs would carry him. The horse tossed his head and Cecil had to calm him again.

"Where's the fire Oli?" Harper asked with a lopsided grin, as his youngest brother crashed into their legs.

"Ivy," the boy told them, pointing wildly towards the house, pronouncing his sister's name 'I.B.'

"What 'bout Ivy?" Cecil asked, recognizing the boy's distress. "Not gone and cracked her noggin again falling from that tree?" His youngest son was pointing towards the pasture, where they were headed.

"H-h-hurrrrt," the boy finally managed to tell them. Cecil Jones swore briefly, thrust the reins into Harper's hands and took off for the pasture. Harper watched his father scoop Oli up and run for the pasture.

Harper didn't know what else to do, but follow along with the horse.

X

In a matter of seconds, Ivy had managed to strip the coat from the young soldier, the source of the blood spread in his uniform coming from a wound to his shoulder. If she didn't know any better, it looked like a bullet had grazed him, seizing a chunk of flesh from his body.

She ripped the sleeve from his shirt, pressing it into the wound in an effort to staunch the blood flow until she could find him some help.

"Ivy!" her father yelled as he and Oli appeared near the fence. "Don't move. Are you injured?"

"No, there's a man – he's bleeding!"

"A man?" Her father nearly dropped Oli in his surprise. "Come again?"

"Father! Please, we need to do something," she snapped back, just barely turning her head. Her hands were covered in a stranger's blood. A handsome stranger, however, with soft, nearly blond hair and bright eyes.

Ivy's father set Oli down on the side of the fence and climbed over, hurrying towards her.

"What's the problem?"

"He's bleeding, grazed it looks like." Her father didn't ask questions as he simply tied the sleeve over the wound tightly and helped Ivy haul the stranger to his feet.

"Switch with your brother," her father commanded. Ivy spotted Harper standing beside the fence, looking quite pale, holding the reins to a beautiful horse.

"Where did that horse come from? Mildred?"

"I dunno. Let him into the pasture until we can see about him later." Harper and Ivy switched quickly, her brother and her father hurrying the man out of the field, towards the house. The horse nickered softly in the direction of the stranger and Ivy wondered if this was the stranger's horse.

She and Oli lead the horse into the pasture through the old gate, stripping the saddle and bridle first to make him more comfortable. If his owner was local, then they would be able to round him back up. The horse didn't like the blood on Ivy's hands and she didn't blame him.

"Sorry fella," she said softly, "we'll see to your soon enough." Ivy collected Oli and they hurried toward the house.

The stranger as sprawled on their couch, with towels and rags around him to keep the blood off the furniture. Harper was applying pressure to the wound as her father paced in the kitchen on the phone with presumably George McGregor, one of the local doctors.

"Go and tend to that horse Harper," her father said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone, "and let Ivy do that." Harper looked relieved as Ivy took his place, her already bloody hands being swallowed up by the clean fabric.

"Sir?" Ivy asked quietly as the man moaned and tried to move.

"The doctor will be here in a matter of minutes, Ivy," her father told her. "Where did he come from?"

"I don't know. One minute the paddock was empty, the next he was sitting in it. Where did that horse come from? He mentioned something about a horse and war with the Germans." Her father visibly paled.

"McGregor mentioned a similar case earlier in the year." The only new person in town was Jamie Stewart that lived at Mildred Callahan's place.

"Stranger things have happened I suppose." It was the only explanation they had, no matter how illogical. Her father dialed the Smith's farm first– no missing horses or riders. Mildred's farm was next.

Ivy could hear the conversation.

"Afternoon. This is Cecil Jones, from over the way. Don't suppose you've lost a horse or rider?"

A man's voice on the other end asked: "What sort of horse?"

"Bay, white star and socks." There was a pregnant pause.

"Sounds a bit like a horse I used to know ages ago, belonged to a friend." Then Mildred came on the line.

"But isn't one of our horses. We're both here and accounted for Mr. Jones. If there's anything we can do to help, just let us know." They exchanged goodbyes and her father hung up the phone with a heavy sigh.

"Ivy, strange things have always happened in this village. I suppose, this is just one of them." Together, they kept pressure on the man's shoulder as they waited for Doctor McGregor.

X

George McGregor heard his phone ringing all the way outside as he was tending to his Harriet's prize winning rose bushes. Harriet was no more, but her roses still flourished.

Had George known that waiting on the other line would be another strange case like at Mildred Callahan's home earlier in the year he probably would have stayed outside and let the machine answer instead.

Cecil Jones was speaking in more than just phrases. Something was deeply wrong.

There was a strange man, in a strange uniform, from his pasture – another version of a similar story he heard earlier in the year. George had been doing a bit of light reading on ley lines, where paranormal or odd activity happened. He wondered if one ran through that section of the countryside, for this to happen twice now.

He promised to be there as soon as possible to assess the wound, bag and all. At least now, it was summer and he had no need for his winter coat. He piled into his compact, hoping the air conditioning would work this time, and started towards the Jones farm.

Instead of snow, there were lush, endless fields dotted by farmhouses and the occasional animals. The Jones farm was old, one of the original village families, he believed. The house was three stories and sometimes barely enough room to contain all of them it seemed.

He usually visited once a year, for flu or some sort of farm related injury. He was about six months early for his visit. As he parked his car, he noticed Harper tending to a horse in the previously empty paddock. That was new.

He waddled into the house, where Oliver was busy coloring at the kitchen table to keep out of the way, as Ivy and her father tended to the new patient in the sitting room.

X

Ivy watched with rapt attention as Doctor McGregor assessed the wound. The officer was stripped bare to the waist now, his pale, slender muscles visible in the filtered light. It was a welcome sight to have a half-dressed stranger in the house, rather than one of her brothers running around in the almost nude.

The view would have been perfect, like something out of a novel, save for the split, raw skin that was still bleeding where the bullet had grazed his shoulder. The wound resembled something from one of Liam's favorite horror movies.

"Oh my," Doctor McGregor sighed. He numbed and sterilized the wound with items from his bag. "This is serious but recent. No infection I would imagine."

"But where did he come from?" Cecil asked.

"Well, that's the tricky bit. You know Mildred Callahan's sweetheart?" Cecil nodded. "He's from the past. Just dropped into her tack room." Cecil Jones was not prone to fits of hysteria, so Ivy was hardly surprised when he simply nodded his understanding – just accepting the truth for what it was.

"Alright."

"I shouldn't be divulging this information, patient security and all that, but he's from 'The Great War' too. I would imagine this gentleman is too. Not sure what branch."

"The one with horses," Ivy spoke up. "Uh, Cavalry," she added, finally remembering her history.

"Might be a friend even," McGregor smiled. The man stirred as McGregor began stitching the wound together.

Ivy knew what a surreal feeling that was, to be sewn back together. She had fallen from a tree once and tore her forehead open. Doctor McGregor had stitched her up then. There was a light, nearly opaque scar just under her hairline, which is why she rarely grew her fringe any longer than her eyebrows.

"Father," Ivy started, as something important occurred to her. "What about mum? This man will have to stay somewhere for his recovery."

"That's true. It will take a couple of weeks," Doctor McGregor. He was writing out his orders.

"He'll stay here, of course," her father told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes, but how do we explain him? You know how mum is." While Cecil was not prone to hysterics, Helen could get hysterical about a speck of dust on the floor if the mood struck her. Ivy figured that her mother would have a complete breakdown if she knew the truth about this stranger, provided it was a truth.

"I can say he is…my nephew," McGregor added.

"And that I was going to let him help on the farm this summer, when he fell from his horse," Cecil added. Another reason that Ivy tended to get along more with her father than her mother. He could make anything sound like the truth.

"Plausible enough. Let's just hope the stranger agrees." He seemed to be stirring.

"Son? Son?" McGregor lightly prodded the young man back to consciousness.

Those brilliant blue eyes opened once again, slightly unfocused.

"The war?" he asked.

"Over, son. You're home." The man nodded. "What's your name?"

"Nicholls. James Nicholls. Captain. My horse, Joey?"

"Safe, son. We're tending to him outside." The man nodded. "Can you walk?"

"I believe so." McGregor and Cecil helped him to sit up.

"Go and fetch your brother if he's finished with that horse."

"I'm here father," Harper said, peeking around the corner.

"Some of your clothes, please."

"Might the lady please step out of the room?" Nicholls asked, unable to glance in Ivy's direction. "At least until I am properly dressed?" He winced with the slightest movement of his arm. Her father jerked his head towards the kitchen. Ivy hesitated a moment, but did as she was told.

Ivy couldn't see how it mattered, given that she had already seen him shirtless when Doctor McGregor was working on his arm. _Vintage sensibilities I suppose. Mental Note, must update him on about eighty years worth of history. And fashion. _

A car door slammed outside.

Oh no. Her mother would choose to come home at a time like this.

"Father?" she called.

"Ivy, can it wait?"

"No, it really can't." She ran to the door to intercept her mother.

"Ivy, what's going on? Is Oli alright? Your father? Harper? Why is Doctor McGregor here?" Ivy blocked the doorway with her body.

"Mum. Did everything go well with the savages?" Her mother made to move around Ivy, but she shifted again.

"Well, yes. Yes it did. But, dear, you need to mo-"

"Dear, I was not expecting you back so soon," Ivy's father interjected.

"What is going on?" Helen demanded, her voice growing shriller on the end, a sign of the coming hysterics unless she received and answer. Ivy looked to her father and shrugged.

"Your turn?"

X


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the reviews/favs/alerts on this story! You guys keep me going : )

Without further ado, the next chapter. Sorry, it might be a bit of a filler, but it's still trying to set things up a bit.

Hope James isn't out of character, but please feel free (nicely of course) to tell me if he is.

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, don't own, no money, never happened. Obviously.

* * *

Strangeness and Charm

Chapter 3

Ivy listened as her father explained some version of the situation in dulcet tones to her mother on the porch. Oli was still busy coloring as Harper and Doctor McGregor were working with the soldier. Sophia and Grace joined him, after they had come in from outside.

There was some yelling on her mother's part about finances, space, and the fact that he was a total and complete stranger.

Helen Jones strode into the kitchen afterwards, made herself a cup of tea, and stood against the counter for a long time, looking far away.

"Ivy, a minute?" her father finally asked, gesturing for her to follow him back to the family room. The soldier was upright, dressed in one of Harper's t-shirts, and looking a little wan.

"I wanted to thank you Miss, for saving me." His eyes remained firmly on her face.

"Any day," she smiled, "though really, Doctor McGregor here did most of the work."

"If you hadn't found me…"

"But I did." Sentiment tended to get her out of sorts. "And you're alright. You might not thank us later though, because you have a lot of catching up to do," she laughed.

"Miss Jones, I will always be grateful, no matter the circumstances."

"This is him?" her mother asked as she appeared in the sitting room.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Mrs. Jones," Nicholls smiled at her.

"Yours as well Mr…"

"James Nicholls." Ivy liked the way the name rolled off his tongue.

"Well Mr. Nicholls, welcome to our home. Please, make yourself comfortable." Her mother turned on her heel and strode from the room. "Ivy, with me, if you please." Ivy glanced at Nicholls face, to see if he noted her mother's short behavior.

If he did, he was being a gentleman about it.

"Sorry, I'll just b-"

"Ivy, now!" Ivy gave an awkward curtsy, and then felt slightly foolish as she ran to keep up with her mother's short strides. Ivy was a bit taller than her mother was, a fact she tried to conceal with slouching. "Straighten up," her mother was always reprimanding her. "Help me with the laundry."

Ivy watched her mother snatch the clothes and sheets from the line, trying to fold them as fast as possible.

"How could your father-without my approval?" Ivy wasn't actually sure whether her mother was speaking to herself or not.

"Well, perhaps he was going to surprise you?" she suggested.

"Some bloody surprise."

"Mum, you use 'bloody,'" Ivy pointed out, trying not to sound quite so amused by her mother's hypocrisy.

"Well, I'm grown. Besides, this whole situation calls for that. And a fag."

"Mum, I didn't know you were such a rebel!" Ivy had never seen her mother as anything other than straight-laced and about as proper as could be.

"Your father knows I hate surprises. And getting Doctor McGregor in on it too! That poor little man!" Her mother was now just throwing the laundry in the basket, without regard to its state. Ivy gave up on folding at a reasonable pace and settled for just sitting in the grass and folding whatever she could detangle as her mother continued ranting.

"Oh drat it, Mum I forgot, I have work tonight." In between the languid heat of the day and the sudden excitement, she had actually forgotten that Liam had now given her Sundays.

"Tonight?"

"Yes, Liam is giving me extra hours over the summer."

"He enjoys your company. I don't know why you won't date him." Her mother started on a different tangent.

"Because he's a completely hopeless loser," Ivy muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Look, I've got to be getting ready for my shift." Half of the laundry was sorted and folded. She stood up and brushed her legs off, not looking forward to wearing the scratchy yellow polo with the black slacks.

In the house, Harper was now preparing dinner, Oli, Sophia, and Grace were watching a particularly loud program on the telly, and her father was showing Doctor McGregor back to his car.

"Mum's got the huff with us, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you off to then? Off to look at that googly-eyed soldier?" Harper teased. Ivy wouldn't admit it, but she was curious to know where Nicholls was going to stay in their house.

"Come off it. I've got to go to work, to a proper job."

"At what? The video rental store? With what's his name?"

"Liam and it's a paycheck isn't it? Keeps us going?" Harper didn't have anything to say to that. "Now, give me a bowl of that soup and I'll be on my way." Reluctantly, Harper spooned a bit out into a bowl for her and she took it off to her room.

"Be quiet mind you. That soldier is staying in Ben and Gav's room." A room located right next to Ivy's room on the first floor. There was always something strange in there, an experiment or project.

"I hope you blowtorched the place before you let him in," she joked.

"Ha. No. Mum made them clean it before they left. Said it smelled faintly dead."

"Give me a bowl of soup. I'll take it to him."

"Just want to spend alone time with him."

"No. I don't want him to starve to death." Harper acted as if he was going to deny her a bowl, but she sidestepped around him and grabbed one from the table.

"Oi, that's mine."

"Too bad. Grow up Harper. There's other bowls." Ivy sipped at her soup as she headed down the hallway to Ben and Gav's room. The door was slightly ajar, but she knocked, out of respect.

"Yes?" She pushed the door open to see that the soldier was sitting up one of the beds by the window. One of the twins' discarded history textbooks was resting in his lap. She didn't know if he had picked it up or someone had given it to him. "Sorry, I was jus-"

"Don't worry about it. It's not as if Ben and Gav use the things." She actually wasn't sure what the twins did in this room. And she didn't want to know either.

"Oh, if you are sure then."

"Yeah, trust me Captain, they won't mind if you borrow them."

"Was there something you required?"

"Oh, no. I thought you might be hungry." She held the bowl of soup out, as a peace offering.

"That's very kind of you Miss Jones."

"None of that Miss Jones stuff. I'm Ivy."

"But-"

"Ivy. Just Ivy."

"Miss, the era I left, we only use Christian names with intimate friendship. Ladies are referred to as Miss or Mrs. until more intimately acquainted." Ivy recalled something about that from history, because she had thought it a bit stuffy. Of course, her history teacher had written something about her being a bit of a free spirit – not in a favorable light- on her reports.

"Oh, I see. Just, in today's world and we being youth and all, it's going to sound a bit awkward is all, after the first time or two. Plus, mum isn't exactly aware of your…odd circumstances." He seemed to be thinking things over.

"Ah, I would not wish to cause trouble. I shall call you Ivy then, as requested."

"And what shall we call you? Explaining Captain will only go so far. Mum might be hysterical but that does not decrease her impressive capacity for exposing a lie." He still seemed hesitant. "Don't worry, I'm sure we will become good friends in time."

"Then I suppose James will have to suffice." The young woman had a point. He was going to stick out if he didn't adapt – a skill the army had tried to teach, should unfavorable circumstances arise. Survival above all else was important.

"James. I quite like that name." He smiled. "Who named you?"

"My father, but my mother loved the name as well." She gave him the bowl of soup.

"It's cucumber soup. Nice and cool." With one arm in a temporary sling, James seemed to be having trouble both holding the bowl and eating, while trying to look gentlemanly. "Here, I'll hold, you eat." She had already slurped quite a bit of hers down in the hallway.

James looked a trifle uncomfortable, but his hunger outweighed his social customs. The soup was delicious. He had not realized how hungry he was. Ivy tried not to watch him eat; so proper and elegant, his long fingers curved around the spoon handle, ladling small sips past his slender lips.

She was quite used to Harper and the twins' eating, where a spoon or fork became a shovel.

"Is something the matter?" James eventually asked, his face displaying mild concern.

"No, nothing. Sorry." The bowl was empty. "Well, I must be getting ready to go to work. I expect someone will look in on you while I'm gone."

"Thank you, Mi-Ivy," he corrected himself, "for your kindness."

"Hey, no problem. Besides, you probably won't thank me tomorrow when I start to fill you in on about eighty plus years of history. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Ivy headed for her room, changed into her uniform quickly, and then slurped down the last of her dinner. She wished her family goodnight, running out the door and tying up her long hair in a messy bun.

She hopped up into her father's old farm truck, praying it would start so that she wouldn't have to use the family van – which had a funny, lingering smell from years of children. It coughed to life and Ivy set off down the long drive.

It was only four hours tonight, instead of the usual five to six. And it was way better than working at the supermarket, like Amy had before she left, with the overly grabby manager.

There were a few people still milling around as she pulled around to employee parking around eight p.m Liam's car was parked in the only other spot. Ivy worked the afternoon and night shifts, while Liam's boss, Harrison, worked the mornings.

"My favorite employee," Liam smiled as she walked through the 'Employees Only' door to the rest of the store. An few elderly couples were wandering among the shelves.

"Hey Liam."

"You know, I heard an interesting rumor about your farm today."

"Oh?" She stepped behind the counter and logged in, slipping her nametag over her head.

"That Doctor McGregor had to be called out there for an accident. I wasn't even sure you would be coming in."

"Oh, that was…Doctor's McGregor's nephew that's come to work with my father. Minor accident. Nothing to worry about."

"That all?"

"Yes." There was a stack of movies needing to return to the shelves. She grabbed them, if only to avoid Liam. He followed her around though.

"So, he is handsome? More handsome than say…me?" Ivy took a sidelong glance of Liam. He was tall, with hopelessly curly hair he never seemed to be able to control, save for shaving it all off on occasion. Though he was well past puberty, there always seemed to be a stray zit on his face. He wasn't ugly, but compared to the handsome soldier in her home, Ivy found Liam didn't tempt her.

She was blunt. "Yes actually. Bright, blue eyes that make girls go all googly." Liam's own eyes were hazel.

"It's those blue eyes you have to watch, you know."

"I will be."

"I didn't realize your father was bringing someone else in."

"Well, he is. I don't see why it's any business of yours."

"Harper's business is my business." Harper admired Liam as one of those guys among guys, as Liam was a few years Harper's senior. "Besides, I didn't know old McGregor had any family."

"He does. He's from…out of town," Ivy said carefully. It wasn't a lie. Ivy didn't know where the soldier was from.

"Oh, exotic." Thankfully, one of the elderly patrons asking for a particularly obscure movie spared Ivy from more of Liam's questions she couldn't answer.

The rest of the night, she spent listening to Liam tell her about some of the movies he had recently rented, as she doodled in the sketchbook she kept beneath the counter when the store got slow. She only half listened to him, sketching from memory the man now in her home.

At ten minutes before midnight, they began shutting down the store and packing to go home. In the summer, Liam kept the store open later since more kids were around.

"See you tomorrow then," he told her, stifling a yawn.

"Yeah."

At home, none of the lights were visible. Usually, everyone else was in bed before Ivy made it home. She crept in, trying to avoid the floorboards she knew were creaky. In the dark, she stripped out of her uniform and threw it over the nearest chair, just before collapsing into bed.

X


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the reviews/favs/alerts on this story! You guys keep me going : )

So sorry it has taken me a while to update this one. Had some free time this week thanks to stepping on goodness knows what in my yard while working in my garden, and thus puncturing my foot. Not too painful, just difficult to walk on. Thankfully my shoe took a great deal of the damage : )

Without further ado, the next chapter. Hope James isn't out of character, but please feel free (nicely of course) to tell me if he is. I've also taken some liberties with his background story.

There will be a bit of overlap with Major Stewart and Mildred from 'Worlds Collide' eventually.

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, don't own, no money, never happened. Obviously.

* * *

Strangeness and Charm

Chapter 4

Ivy could hear the clucking of Oli's chickens below her window. Light streamed in across her bed, but she pulled the pillow across her face. Even though she had done pretty much nothing all night at the store, listening to Liam's idle nattering was quite wearing.

Something moved on the end of her bed, near her feet. Something that hummed.

"Up," a small voice said when she prodded the object with one of her toes.

"Mm, no Oli. It's too early." She wiggled her feet beneath the covers and laughed when he jumped at them, like a kitten.

"Up, up," he giggled, holding on as Ivy continued moving her legs.

Her mother rapped the edge of the doorframe, holding a basket of laundry on her hip. "Up lazybones, or you'll miss breakfast," she said in passing.

Ivy sat up and grabbed Oli, tickling him before he could leap off the bed. She wrapped a thin, blue robe around her lithe frame, and then held Oli on her hip, heading for the breakfast table.

"Come on. What's for breakfast?" she asked. Oli touched his thumbs and forefingers together, to show her something round, probably fruit. "Orange?" she guessed, as they passed through the living room. Oli laughed. "No, apple then? Or a biscuit? Tart?" By the time Ivy reached the table, she had made it up to guessing odd things like bits of goblin or troll before she set her brother down.

Ivy's father and Harper were already gone out to the fields but Sophia, Grace, and the soldier were still seated. He was wearing some of Harper's things, a plain button-down short-sleeve shirt with jeans, both of which looked out of place and perfectly acceptable all at once.

"You should have dressed," Ivy's mother scolded, passing by on her way to somewhere else.

"What's wrong with this?" Ivy asked, glancing down at the robe covering her tank and exercise shorts. Unfortunately, when she had set Oli down, the robe had gaped open slightly, revealing collarbones and just above the small space between her breasts. She glanced at the soldier to see that he was all but holding his hand over his face, blushing and looking down at his nearly emptied plate. "Ah, sorry, 'bout that."

Ivy pulled the material around her, this time securing the tie as tight as possible to avoid further mishaps. She felt her cheeks heat as she grabbed a seat across the table from him.

"That's alright Mis-Ivy," James told her, glancing back at her face.

"Mis-Ivy Mis-Ivy," Sophia and Grace began chanting, banging their forks on the surface of the table.

"Hush you two," Ivy told them, "go feed something, anything, as long as you're finished with breakfast." The girls giggled but obliged, abandoning the utensils running off after their mother.

"Did you sleep well Ivy?" James asked, some of the heated color leaving his face.

"Oh, yes, I suppose. I don't really remember. Did you sleep well in this mad house?" Ivy asked, not used to such polite conversation in the morning. Most mornings were deafening, with all of the teens and children at the table together. She helped herself to some of her mother's cooking.

"Yes, it was quite peaceful."

"Compared to…?"

"War."

"Oh, then we must be like a holiday." It was just the two of them now with everyone else was somewhere outside.

"A little," he smiled. "Are these children…?"

"Mine? Goodness no. No, no, they're all my parents. Oli might as well be mine though. This isn't even the whole clan. Mum shipped half of the lot off for the summer, thank goodness."

"Half of them?"

"Yeah, only half." She proceeded to explain the deal between her mother and her aunt and the other circumstances that drew some of her siblings away for a much-needed break. "What about you? Any family? I don't know how we would go about contacting them after this long."

"I was an only child. Mother and father hated that I…" His voice drifted off.

To avoid an obviously sensitive subject, Ivy smiled and told him, "Well, you can have any of mine that you like, except for Oli."

"Thank you, Ivy, your offer is most kind, though I think your parents might miss them."

"Not hardly. We honestly have too many of them running around."

"You are lucky. I wish I had not been an only child. But mother and father understood that my loyalty was to my country and that I had to go."

"How very brave of you," Ivy told him with sincerity. "I don't think I could have done something like that. And I know that Harper would never either." James smiled at her, as she munched down on breakfast. "What about a girlfriend?"

"A sweetheart?"

"Yes. You know, that someone special to write home to during wartime."

"I-" James blushed and finally continued, "I confess that I often wished I had a lovely girl to write home to, but there was no one."

"Well I would have written to you." The blush staining James' cheeks grew a shade darker. It was true, had she been alive in the early century, she would have. "I'm sorry, I just tend to blurt things out without-"

"It's fine, really. I would have been happy for you to write me."

"Well, I am happy you're here now, even if the circumstances are a bit…odd." James agreed with her. "And after breakfast, I'll try to acclimatize you to the new century."

"Your brother, Harper, started me off with these clothes. He said they were less…stuffy."

"That's Harper for you, the king of slobishness. I don't think he even owns a formal outfit, which might prove difficult when he finally gets married. He'll probably borrow one."

"Your brother is engaged to be married?"

"Not yet. I'm sure soon though. Michelle has a strong constitution for wanting to keep him. Of course, Harper is always insisting that he's still better than me, because he claims no man would ever consider marriage with me."

"Why that's a horrible thing to say to you." James appeared to be genuinely scandalized.

"Well, that's Harper for you. I don't believe that he would ever win a sibling of the year award. I don't even think he would place," she laughed. "But, you can't pick your family, just your battles." James nodded. "I'll be back in a flash though. Can't run around in my robe all day I suppose."

Ivy excused herself from the table and made her way back to her room. She grabbed a clean pair of shorts and a fresh shirt. Tonight she didn't work, as Liam preferred her at the store later in the week and on the weekends. She dumped her uniform in the laundry hamper on her way back to the kitchen.

James was still seated at the table, looking around at the kitchen. Ivy's mother had decorated it herself about twenty years before, with family heirlooms and knickknacks that she thought fit in. It always looked a little cobbled together, but Ivy found it charming in a way.

"Let me clean up the remains of breakfast first."

"Is there anything I can do to assist you?"

"No, you just sit tight and keep me company." Everyone else was outside going about their morning chores. James inquired about events and inventions he had read about in the twins' books last night. Ivy realized he must have glanced through one of the science fiction or fantasy books when he asked about a hovering vessel. She laughed and set him straight.

"No, no our vehicles still have wheels," she explained. "Though motorcars have become much faster, sleeker. The hovering craft is a thing of science fiction, like Jules Verne?" James asked other questions about history, some that Ivy wasn't sure she had the answer to. "I think we might need to make a trip to the library, once that arm is healed up."

"The pictures on the bedroom wall, who painted those?" A few summers back, Ivy had painted some science fiction scenes for the twins above their beds.

"I did."

"They're very fine. You enjoy art?"

"Yes. I wanted to go to Uni, to study it. Do you draw?"

"It's a hobby. Something I enjoyed when I had time," James confessed. "I kept a sketchbook in my kit, but I imagine it's on the battlefield lost in time somewhere."

"I have extra, for when you arm heals, unless you're left handed."

"No, I am afraid that my arm is out of commission for now. I might have a few sketches however, stashed in my uniform."

"I need to see about cleaning your uniform anyway. We'll check. I suppose we need to check that arm too."

"Mis-Ivy, you are being most gracious. Are you certain there is-"

"No, don't worry about it. I've already told you," Ivy smiled. "We don't mind. Now, enough that, I won't have it. Come on, let's check your arm first." She dried her hands on a nearby dishtowel then consulted the directions Doctor McGregor had left.

Ivy readied the supplies and waited for James to remove his shirt, so that she could check his wound. He was blushing again, in a way that she found endearing.

"James, you have to remove that shirt. Or I can, if you want. I need to check that arm."

"But Miss Ivy, while we are acquaintances, we are not intimate enough."

"Well don't think of it as intimacy. I am your caretaker, remember, your nurse. I must see the wound." He still looked hesitant. "Please? I don't want to risk you losing your drawing arm."

"Alright," James finally consented. Deftly, he plucked at the buttons with his good hand, exposing his firm chest to Ivy again. She tried not to gawk, tried to think of him like one of her brothers – whom she had seen shirtless more times, than she cared to remember- but it wasn't working.

This was a slightly older, non-relative, single man.

"Miss Ivy?" he prompted, after a few minutes.

"U-uh-right, bandages, cleaning." She worked in silence, her cheeks flushed and hot. "There, everything looks, uninfected," she finally told him. "As saying 'fine' would be odd, since you have a tear there." She cleaned up and put the supplies away, letting him button up with some privacy. The sling was replaced and he looked much the same.

"Thank you."

"Does it hurt?"

"Only a little," he grinned.

"You're just being brave, aren't you?" she teased. "Come on, let's check that uniform. I'll run it to the cleaners tomorrow when I go to work." She had stashed it in the airing cupboard her mother never used. It had been a favorite hiding place when she was a child and Harper would tease her. She spread the bloodied material across the top of the washing machine.

James pointed out pockets for her to check. They found all sorts of odds and ends he had kept there, which Ivy placed in a box for safekeeping. Eventually, in the breast pocket of his jacket, James found some sketches he had done in the early hours, of the morning, just before the charge.

"I must have placed them there and forgotten."

"Well I'm glad you remembered," Ivy told him, as they smoothed the pages out. They were all of the horse in the field from several angles. "Is this the horse?"

"Yes. That is Joey, who is probably anxious to see me this morning."

"They're beautiful," Ivy breathed, tracing her fingers over the lines.

"Thank you very much Ivy."

"You have to teach me."

James laughed, hearty and full. "I am not sure that I can. But I will endeavor to try."

"Or at least let me watch you sketch."

"I would take great pleasure in that as well." He paused, as Ivy bagged up the uniform for her errand the next day. "Might we visit Joey?"

"Yeah. A little sunshine and fresh air never harmed anyone. Unless you're allergic."

"I don't believe that I am."

"Good, then follow me. I doubt anyone has cared for him yet. It's been years since anything lived in the pasture."

"What lived there before?"

"We had a pony when I was a child. But it died."

"If I may ask, what did the pony die of exactly?"

"Old age. Don't worry, the pony lived a good life. We won't let anything happen to your horse." They made their way slowly across the property, to where Joey was hanging his head over the fence railing, snuffling at Oli's head. "So did you train your horse up from a babe?"

"No. Unfortunately, the horse was purchased from a farmer, whose son-Albert, trained the horse. Albert was not quite ready to part with him, I'm afraid. I promised Albert I would return his horse to him, once the war was over."

"Oh. That might be a little difficult now," Ivy said. "But, perhaps Mildred and her boyfriend Jamie know."

"Who are Mildred and Jamie?" Ivy stopped and pointed down the hill to where Mildred's property sat near the forest.

"Mildred Callahan is the woman who lives down from us that keeps horses. And her boyfriend, Jamie Stewart, or the 'Major' as she sometimes calls him when they're around the village, is like you, according to the good doctor- fro" Ivy noticed that James had gone quite pale. "Why James, are you in pain? Is it your arm?"

"No, nothing like that. Jamie Stewart you say? Major?"

"Yes. Tall man, mustache. Stern. He is fond of films; Mildred and Jamie come in the store where I work."

"Might we meet them, perchance?"

"You know him, don't you?" Ivy asked.

"He was my superior. I didn't realize-how odd," James smiled. Then, "But wonderfully so."

"There aren't going to be any more of you popping about in time are there?" Ivy joked.

"Not that I am aware of."

"Give your arm a chance to heal, don't want to stir you up too much and risk further injury. But I'll try to set something up."

"Thank you. I would very much appreciate that." Ivy smiled.

"Not a problem James. Maybe they both have some answers. He appeared around the first of the new year. Maybe he can assist you with adapting."

"Perhaps. Do you know if the Major's horse came through with him?"

"I suppose. You see, a few months ago, Mildred and Jamie were riding through the woods there and decided to skate on the pond we have, before the water unfroze. But unfortunately, there was a thin spot and Mildred tumbled through. Jamie brought her to us on a big dark horse, and we got the doctor before she became too ill."

"Topthorn," James smiled. Then, "Jamie is a good man. He took quite good care of us when we were in his company." They continued on to where Joey was waiting. The bay whinnied at James and trotted down the fence line to be closer. Ivy watched James' face light up and for a moment, he seemed to forget the pain in his arm.

She watched his long fingers stroke the soft coat as Joey nibbled at his caretaker. James whispered gentle words to the horse, soothing him.

"What can we do to help, until your arm is recovered?" Ivy asked, once James turned back to her.

"Can you assist me in brushing him first?"

"Of course. Will he allow us to lead him to the barn? Everything is in there. Father keeps feed for the sheep and chickens in there. Can he eat a little corn?"

"Yes. Corn and grass for now. I don't suppose you have any oats."

"No, but I'll inform father for the next feed run." Harper had managed to untack the horse and put a halter on for better access.

Ivy grabbed the leadline and let herself into the pasture. Joey turned to watch her, but didn't try to bolt once James began speaking to him. She clipped the line to a ring under his jaw and led him towards the gate. Oli watched from his spot in the grass, where his favorite rooster was clucking at them from Oli's grip.

Once in the cool darkness of the barn, Ivy flicked the one working light switch and tied Joey to a grooming ring in the aisle. Her great-grandfather had supposedly had many horses when the barn had been built. Her father had left mostly everything in the original design, intending one day to have horses again himself.

Quickly, Ivy dusted the brushes off where they had been stored in a small tack room and brought the whole tack box out with her.

"You were prepared."

"Father always wanted horses again. His father had them when he was a boy."

"We had one horse, but he was far too old to be taken into war. And I really needed my own steed."

"So the cavalry found you Joey?"

"Yes."

"What was the horse's name, the one at home?" Ivy asked as she worked to brush the dust and brambles from Joey's coat.

"Merlin," James smiled. "My father named him. He always loved the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table." Ivy listened as James told her about his family, while they worked on Joey. _If only history had been this interesting in school, _she thought.

They released Joey back into the field once he was cleaned up.

"Come on, let's get you back to the house. Don't want to overtax you," Ivy told him. "Besides it's nearly lunch time." Ivy's mother was inside cleaning, with Sophia and Grace, playing nearby.

James rested in the twins' room while Ivy and her mother prepared lunch for the family. Ivy hardly listened as her mother prattled on about her visit to her sister the day before. She was instead thinking of James and their earlier conversations.

X


End file.
